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The Atlantic Council Working Group on North Korea, chaired by Ambassador James Goodby and General Jack N. Merritt released this report which notes, “Enlarging the diplomatic agenda through parallel negotiations, alongside the nuclear talks, will strengthen the U.S. hand by enabling diplomats to assert additional pressures on North Korea as well as provide Pyongyang, and other negotiating partners, new incentives The history of negotiating with North Korea demonstrates that improvements in political conditions almost always precede and foster agreements on security-related issues.”

Steven C. Kim, Assistant Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, writes, “given the fact that the conflicting approaches of China-Russia-ROK and US-Japan are rooted in their differing policy goals toward North Korea which, in turn, reflect their sharply divergent domestic and foreign policy interests, it will not be easy for them to reconcile their conflicting approaches until the five countries can agree on a common approach, one cannot expect that there will be substantive progress toward resolving the North Korean nuclear problem.”

The Atlantic Council Working Group on North Korea, a NGO that promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs, wrote, “In the working group’s view, parallel negotiations to achieve a series of agreements on political, security and economic issues related to the nuclear deal will provide the U.S. with significantly greater diplomatic leverage for achieving its strategic policy goals of denuclearizing North Korea and establishing long-term peace and stability in Northeast Asia. Realizing a comprehensive settlement would also demonstrate the strategic value of making diplomatic common cause with an emerging China.”

Response to “Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort Women” Response to “Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort Women” Discussion of Policy Forum Online 07-027A: March 29th, 2007 Response to “Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort Women” By Bruce Klingner CONTENTS I. Introduction II. Comments by Paul Midford on “Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort Women” […]

Mindy L. Kotler, Director of Asia Policy Point, a Washington, DC nonprofit research center that studies the U.S. policy relationships with Japan and Northeast Asia, writes that “The Comfort Women issue is not yesterday’s problem. It is today’s and, if it is not dealt with now, it will be tomorrow’s problem as well. A multitude of vital U.S. interests are served by a definitive resolution of this moral issue still troubling the governments and peoples of Asia. It is also good for our very close ally Japan, as its government seeks long-overdue recognition of Japan’s 60-year history of constructive, responsible and resolutely peaceful membership in the modern world community.”

Read a discussion of the report here.

Bruce Klingner, Senior Research fellow for Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation, writes, “The Bush administration’s action will have far-reaching ramifications. Since it so closely followed North Korea’s threats, Pyongyang will interpret it as a U.S. capitulation. In conjunction with earlier wavering by Washington over Pyongyang’s covert uranium-based nuclear weapons program, North Korean negotiators will be emboldened to push back against U.S. demands.”